HIGH-RESOLUTION BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACES USING FLEXIBLE SILICON ELECTRONICS

Current implantable brain devices for clinical and research applications require that each electrode is individually wired to a separate electronic system. Establishing a high-resolution interface over broad regions of the brain is infeasible under this constraint, as an electrode array with thousands of passive contacts would require thousands of wires to be individually connected. To overcome this limitation, we have developed new implantable electrode array technology that incorporates active, flexible electronics. This technology has enabled extremely flexible arrays of 1,024 electrodes and soon, thousands of multiplexed and amplified sensors spaced as closely as 250 μm apart, which are connected using just a few wires. These devices yield an unprecedented level of spatial and temporal micro-electrocorticographic (μECoG) resolution for recording and stimulating distributed neural networks. I will present the development of this technology and data from in vivo recordings. I will also present examples of finely detailed spatial and temporal patterns from feline neocortex that give rise to seizures and suggest new stimulation paradigms to treat epilepsy. Finally, I will discuss new electrode designs and supportin